Update 2: Final update on this story, Game Informer has confirmed with a source inside of Microsoft that Adam Orth is no longer working for Microsoft. It's unclear whether Orth resigned of his own will or forcedly.

"We apologize for the inappropriate comments made by an employee on Twitter yesterday. This person is not a spokesperson for Microsoft, and his personal views do not reflect the customer centric approach we take to our products or how we would communicate directly with our loyal consumers. We are very sorry if this offended anyone, however we have not made any announcements about our product roadmap, and have no further comment on this matter."

The rumors claiming that Microsoft's Durango, their next-gen console, will require an always-online connection are so abundant these days it'd difficult not to accept as fact. As such, the question shifts to, "Is the decision to force an always-online connection on gamers an intelligent one?" This is the question Microsoft Studios' Creative Director Adam Orth thought he was casually addressing on Twitter last night.

Unfortunately, it seems he forgot he was being watched by the internet:

As is obvious, these are just small portions of Adam Orth's Twitter feed. We would have linked this Twitter directly, but Adam has since turned the account private. Apparently he claimed after turning his account private that a majority of his comments were just daily "back and forth" comments with Manveer, a gameplay designer at BioWare. Orth added that he was simply "trolling" Manveer." Manveer Heir's Twitter account is still open and he's responding to questions.

Whether Orth was "trolling" or not, the effects of the conversation are apparent. A Reddit post containing the above images made it to the top of the front page in a matter of minutes, with nary a positive or defensive comment for Orth among its replies. Whether people are interested in the idea of "always-online" or not, people have not been receptive to Orth's "argument."

Unfortunately, Microsoft's console has yet to even be announced yet, so we don't know if the console will truly be always online or why they'd implement such a service. Perhaps it's so they can give everyone free Netflix and Game of Thrones. Then who'd have egg on their face?

Until we know the truth of the next Xbox, I guess we'll just go on dealing with it.

Anyway, I was already going to buy a PS4 but this basically makes me think that, if this is true, Microsoft won't even be a serious competitor next generation.And with Wii-U disappointing Nintendo fanboys across the globe, maybe Sony will return to the console war dominance they had with the first two PlayStations?

Serious or not he should have known better than to shoot his mouth off like that, being an employee at Microsoft people will be watching and that sort of behavior reflects badly on the company as a whole.

I really peoples' reaction to this makes Microsoft think twice about going "always online" if they actually are planning to.

I know which next gen console to avoid now. I would probably have it online most of the time anyhow, but the times where I have to forego internet connection, like moving and waiting to get it set up or having to disconnect it for various reasons, I'd rather it not become a paperweight.